Opinion of Barack Obama

[Upper Canada Tory]

I’d have more respect for him if from the get-go he admitted that he’d govern like Bill Clinton and not FDR 2.0. His 2008 campaign was one of the strongest in recent memory, but his legislative record was disappointing and that frustration fueled Trump and other far-right politicians. He was better than McCain, but that’s about as far as I’m going to go.

Bill Clinton is a very inaccurate analogy for how Obama governed, although he was nothing like FDR 2.0 either (however, I would argue that Obama has more parallels with FDR than Clinton specifically on economic issues, maybe not so on other issues).

[Vice President Christian Man]

I’d have more respect for him if from the get-go he admitted that he’d govern like Bill Clinton and not FDR 2.0. His 2008 campaign was one of the strongest in recent memory, but his legislative record was disappointing and that frustration fueled Trump and other far-right politicians. He was better than McCain, but that’s about as far as I’m going to go.

Bill Clinton is a very inaccurate analogy for how Obama governed, although he was nothing like FDR 2.0 either (however, I would argue that Obama has more parallels with FDR than Clinton specifically on economic issues, maybe not so on other issues).

He was slightly to the left of center in terms of pulling out of the recession, but his only major economic legislation outside of that was Obamacare and the TPP which were both center-right positions (TPP is harder to define but for the sake of this argument I'll throw it in there since it had broad appeal with that ideological group).

[Upper Canada Tory]

I’d have more respect for him if from the get-go he admitted that he’d govern like Bill Clinton and not FDR 2.0. His 2008 campaign was one of the strongest in recent memory, but his legislative record was disappointing and that frustration fueled Trump and other far-right politicians. He was better than McCain, but that’s about as far as I’m going to go.

Bill Clinton is a very inaccurate analogy for how Obama governed, although he was nothing like FDR 2.0 either (however, I would argue that Obama has more parallels with FDR than Clinton specifically on economic issues, maybe not so on other issues).

He was slightly to the left of center in terms of pulling out of the recession, but his only major economic legislation outside of that was Obamacare and the TPP which were both center-right positions (TPP is harder to define but for the sake of this argument I'll throw it in there since it had broad appeal with that ideological group).

While TPP was related to trade and was a centre-right item, Obama's jobs act also had a 'Buy American' provision which was a protectionist/left-of-centre item and would have been very uncommon during the neoliberal/free trade era of Bill Clinton.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/buy-american-provision-returns-in-obama-s-jobs-act-1.1061213

IIRC on top of that, Clinton signed legislation to reduce taxes while Obama allowed the Bush tax cuts to expire and kept a relatively high corporate tax.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Kind of shocking he's under water now in a forum that is predominantly liberal or to the left of center.

A lot of this is because Obama’s FP legacy looking back was clearly disastrous and people only didn’t think so at the time because his predecessor was George W Bush .

Obama’s foreign policy was the strongest part of his Presidency.

[Upper Canada Tory]

Kind of shocking he's under water now in a forum that is predominantly liberal or to the left of center.

A lot of this is because Obama’s FP legacy looking back was clearly disastrous and people only didn’t think so at the time because his predecessor was George W Bush .

Obama’s foreign policy was the strongest part of his Presidency.

I don't think so, not because Bush somehow had a better foreign policy, but because a lot of the serious foreign policy concerns we have had over the years started to become apparent problems during the Obama presidency (Ukraine crisis, rise of China as a hostile adversary to the US, the rise of ISIS, increasing Iranian influence in MENA). Obama's deference to multilateral organizations seem to have significantly weakened the US' ability to be prepared for potential threats.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Kind of shocking he's under water now in a forum that is predominantly liberal or to the left of center.

A lot of this is because Obama’s FP legacy looking back was clearly disastrous and people only didn’t think so at the time because his predecessor was George W Bush .

Obama’s foreign policy was the strongest part of his Presidency.

I don't think so, not because Bush somehow had a better foreign policy, but because a lot of the serious foreign policy concerns we have had over the years started to become apparent problems during the Obama presidency (Ukraine crisis, rise of China as a hostile adversary to the US, the rise of ISIS, increasing Iranian influence in MENA). Obama's deference to multilateral organizations seem to have significantly weakened the US' ability to be prepared for potential threats.

Be that as it may, JCPOA and the opening to Cuba make Obama the best foreign policy President since Bush 41. I can see an argument for Biden re: revitalizing alliances in Europe and Asia and steadfastly supporting Ukraine, but the situation in Ukraine right now, plus the current situation in the Middle East, and the way the Afghanistan withdrawal (which I supported at the time and still do) was such a clusterf—k are all points against him.

That all being said, and this is related to your criticism of Obama’s foreign policy: Biden’s predecessors from Bush onward have overall left him (and the US) a raw deal on the world stage, and yes, that includes the man for whom he was VP. The Afghanistan withdrawal is Exhibit A.

[Sir Mohamed]

FF. Far from perfect, but his presidency was easily a net positive. What needs to be said is that his foreign policy was a mixed bag at best and his party leadership was poor.

Wow, this poll is indeed a shocker.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Kind of shocking he's under water now in a forum that is predominantly liberal or to the left of center.

A lot of this is because Obama’s FP legacy looking back was clearly disastrous and people only didn’t think so at the time because his predecessor was George W Bush .

Obama’s foreign policy was the strongest part of his Presidency.

No lol . Here’s a list of his foreign policy failures :

- Completely Bungled the Iraq Withdrawal: Keep in mind Iraq by 2011 was relatively peaceful and the insurgency was mostly destroyed. If Obama negotiated a status of force agreement, it would be easier to nip the rise of ISIS in the bud and also keep more American influence in the region

- Libya Intervention was a disaster: Look at how Libya has been since 2011. What Obama did in Libya was basically removing a government without doing anything to help create a replacement which obviously will be a disaster

- Funding the Syrian Rebels : Much of them turned out to be jihadists and it also helped further destabilize one of the biggest enemies against ISIS.

- Waiting too long to intervene against ISIS : Even if we withdrew , we should have launched Operation Inherent Resolve much earlier as doing so would have prevented ISIS from taking the territory they did

- Was extremely weak on Russia : He did the Russian reset after they already invaded Georgia, withdrew a plan to build a Missile defense system , and mocked the idea that they were a threat . Heck even after Russia invaded Crimea , Obama responded in an extremely weak way as he literally said Russia doing this is proof in itself they are weak and even opposed many of the actions  that Trump would implement because he was afraid of overreacting too much .

Like despite the rhetoric , Obama made Donald Trump look like First Term Reagan in comparison on Russia policy . It was a complete disaster and people just conveniently forget this now

- He did nothing to stop Maduro from consolidating power

His foreign policy by any objective means was an abject disaster and clearly had a worse Foreign policy record than Clinton , Trump and Biden

[President Johnson]

Kind of shocking he's under water now in a forum that is predominantly liberal or to the left of center.

A lot of this is because Obama’s FP legacy looking back was clearly disastrous and people only didn’t think so at the time because his predecessor was George W Bush . His domestic policy legacy is also not that great in hindsight given the bipartisan deals Biden has made in an even more polarized time and his academic style of liberalism has not worked out anywhere near as good as people thought at the time .

I guess the bigger reason for liberals and progressives is that they feel he squandered the first two years by not getting more stuff done. Like the public option in Obamacare, immigration reform and passed a stimulous too small which took the economy longer to recover. His administration also didn't go after bankers. These are indeed weak spots of his presidency, certainly from today's perspective. He also did a poor job in party leadership and presided over catastrophic downballot losses.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Kind of shocking he's under water now in a forum that is predominantly liberal or to the left of center.

A lot of this is because Obama’s FP legacy looking back was clearly disastrous and people only didn’t think so at the time because his predecessor was George W Bush .

Obama’s foreign policy was the strongest part of his Presidency.

No lol . Here’s a list of his foreign policy failures :

- Completely Bungled the Iraq Withdrawal: Keep in mind Iraq by 2011 was relatively peaceful and the insurgency was mostly destroyed. If Obama negotiated a status of force agreement, it would be easier to nip the rise of ISIS in the bud and also keep more American influence in the region

- Libya Intervention was a disaster: Look at how Libya has been since 2011. What Obama did in Libya was basically removing a government without doing anything to help create a replacement which obviously will be a disaster

- Funding the Syrian Rebels : Much of them turned out to be jihadists and it also helped further destabilize one of the biggest enemies against ISIS.

- Waiting too long to intervene against ISIS : Even if we withdrew , we should have launched Operation Inherent Resolve much earlier as doing so would have prevented ISIS from taking the territory they did

- Was extremely weak on Russia : He did the Russian reset after they already invaded Georgia, withdrew a plan to build a Missile defense system , and mocked the idea that they were a threat . Heck even after Russia invaded Crimea , Obama responded in an extremely weak way as he literally said Russia doing this is proof in itself they are weak and even opposed many of the actions  that Trump would implement because he was afraid of overreacting too much .

Like despite the rhetoric , Obama made Donald Trump look like First Term Reagan in comparison on Russia policy . It was a complete disaster and people just conveniently forget this now

- He did nothing to stop Maduro from consolidating power

His foreign policy by any objective means was an abject disaster and clearly had a worse Foreign policy record than Clinton , Trump and Biden

- The Iraqi government refused to let US military forces stay unless Iraqi courts had the ability to prosecute American soldiers for any crimes they may have committed. Would you have supported that?

- Libya was a disaster for NATO in general, yes, and Obama deserves his share of blame.

- Syria was overall a no-win situation, though the “red line” bs was foolish and the lack of follow through devastating in terms of American “credibility” (God how I hate that word in this context). But the Saudis and Qataris can’t be trusted to not fund Islamist militias especially against an Iranian ally (Assad), and Obama was too reliant on the CIA and covert action (drones being a notable and controversial case), though every President since the CIA was created has been guilty of that so not a uniquely Obama failure.

- Agree re: ISIS, more or less

- Easy to say that Obama was weak on Putin with hindsight, but the dumbest part of the “Reset” is the idea that the younger “Westernized” (nowadays, pathetic alcoholic Kremlin troll) Dmitri Medvedev was a real Russian President.

- Not sure what he should have done there. The US has an appalling history in terms of intervention in Latin America, I’m not sure we have much credibility (there’s thatd again) there.

I never claimed Obama’s foreign policy was actually good overall; it’s more an indictment of recent Presidents being horrible there. I suspect that a lot of that is baked into the Presidency as the head of the post-WWII Nuclear Age national security state and the massive expansion of the executive branch in general in terms of the military, intelligence, and so forth, and America’s superpower role. Any individual with that amount of power is incredibly dangerous by definition.

[Dr. MB]

[Intro: Barack Obama]
"There's not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America."

[Verse 1: Chief Keef]
Yeah, I know my hoes wanna make it rain
I tell her I'm Obama, I ain't no McCain
Young Sosa, yeah he make a lot of change
I'm on the grind everyday, I ain't afraid
I tell Barack, "Ditch the first lady"
I'm sick of her, she make me look corny
F**k her, I'm gone, I ain't going back to L.A.
I'm not doing this for fame or for fortune
Just tryna live like Obama, just do a lot more drugs
Young Sosa, young Obama
Yeah, that's the truth, that's what we do

[Chorus: Barack Obama]
Don't believe the hype
I'm back to end racism
Barack got the presidential chain again
I'm back with that presidential chain again
F**k up your brain with my presidential chain

[Verse 2: Barack Obama]
Haters talk behind my back, but this ain't no backstage
I'm in the White House, it's the black stage
I put Michelle up on the stage, then I go backstage
Went to the crib and got backstage
I'm like, "Dance with me, Michelle," she said, "I got to change"
I said, "Look at me," she said, "I'm like a foreign exchange"
So we're back on the stage and I'm feeling the change
Hope and change like my presidential campaign
I'm all up in that presidential lane
I tell Sosa, "You need to get into that presidential game"

[Chorus: Barack Obama]
Don't believe the hype
I'm back to end racism
Barack got the presidential chain again
I'm back with that presidential chain again
F**k up your brain with my presidential chain

[Outro: Barack Obama]
"So no matter what there is, black or white, rich or poor, educated or not, that the American dream is something that is within your reach, as long as you're willing to work for it."

[LBJer]

Kind of shocking he's under water now in a forum that is predominantly liberal or to the left of center.

And Obama was beloved on Atlas during his presidency, which certainly doesn’t make his current ratings here any less shocking.

You always have to take Atlas with a huge grain of salt.

[mileslunn]

Good but not great.  On domestic policy while he had some hard choices on balance helped turn around the economy.  Maybe spent a little too much, but he did seem due to severity of great recession open minded and not as ideological as some wanted.  After all Occupy Wall Street happened when he was president just as tea party did so that suggests a fair number found him both too left wing and not left wing enough.

On foreign policy, mixed bag.  Right to pull US out of Iraq which was a complete disaster, but too soft on Russia and Iran.  I think after Iraq war, there was a strong desire to move as far away as possible from the neo-conservative position.

Still I would put him as above average for president, but not one of the best.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

#LockHimUp

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

HP, too weak on foreign policy. He should have sent more troops to Afghanistan during that war's surge, like Lieberman and McCain suggested.

[Red Velvet]

Neither? Is that a possible answer?

Obama just feels bland and boring tbh. I don’t see him as negatively as I do many Democratic party establishment figures - Hillary Clinton for example - but I can’t say I have a very positive opinion either.

However, Obama represented best what I hate the most about Democrats behavior nowadays - which is the overvalued importance given to aesthetics over essence. So in a way, being so cool and bland in a way that’s exactly what the powerful types want from leaders without feeling threatened, is exactly the biggest crime he could commit.

So on balance, HP.

[SWE]

It was very clear by the end of his administration he was a remarkably ineffective president, especially for a two termer. However, with a couple years of hindsight, his stock only looks worse. Biden accomplishing considerably more with a slimmer majority and more hostile court makes it clear that his problems weren't entirely structural - the competence of the chief executive makes a difference, and that was not anywhere to be found in his Oval Office. Being generous and assuming his entire deal about unity with Republicans wasn't an outright grift, it comes off now as toddler-like naivety. Hopefully nobody like him ever comes close to the presidency  again - he wasn't up to the task at hand, and it was irresponsible of him to try